Power generation firm RWE has put a BESS in the Netherlands into commercial operation, its first that is capable of providing inertia to the grid.
The 7.5MW/11MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) is located at RWE’s gas power plant in Moerdijk, in the south of the Netherlands, and is part of balancing solutions of the larger OranjeWind offshore wind project.
It is its first inertia-ready BESS to start commercial operation, and the first of its kind in operation in the Central European grid, RWE said yesterday (16 June).
It features highly responsive control technology and inverters with grid-forming functionality, which means it can supply or absorb power within milliseconds, helping to stabilise the power grid. Inertia has historically been provided by the rotating mass of turbines of legacy power plants, but as these come offline there is a shortfall which BESS technology can fill.
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Nikolaus Valerius, CEO of RWE Generation SE, stated: “Our newest plant in Moerdijk shows that ultra-fast battery energy storage systems can deliver the grid-serving inertia once solely provided by conventional power plants. With the phase-out of fossil fuel-fired large power plants, more and more such systems are needed to stabilise the grid.”
The BESS uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP) lithium-ion batteries. An image provided with the press release appears to show both BYD and CATL BESS units.
The start of commercial operation also marks a two-year pilot phase to develop standards for future BESS capable of providing inertia services, during which RWE is working with transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT to develop the technical requirements and grid compliance procedures for its grid-forming properties.
Having been a slow starter for several years while neighbours Belgium and Germany saw comparatively much larger numbers of deployments, activity in the Dutch grid-scale storage market has picked up in the past 18 months, with numerous large projects entering construction or operations: see all our recent coverage here.
The start of operations for the inertia BESS follows RWE commissioning its first BESS in the Netherlands, a 35MW/41MWh BESS which went into operation in March.
The company is one of the most active deployer of renewables and storage around, as it diversifies its portfolio beyond its legacy coal, lignite and gas portfolio. It has 1.2GW of BESS operational worldwide.
2025 has also seen it commission two large-scale BESS projects in Germany totalling 235MWh, while in the US in late 2024 broke ground on 900MWh of Texas BESS, proposed a 200MW system in Colorado and embarked on a pilot project using novel nickel-hydrogen battery technology.
May saw it enter into a 50MW/100MWh tolling agreement with virtual BESS aggregation and tolling platform Terralayr.
